Erasable marking surfaces such as whiteboards are commonly used in offices, schools, homes and other locations where erasable marking is desired. These marking surfaces are designed to be marked, written or drawn on, with erasable dry-erase compositions such as markers for the purposes of planning, programming, designing, drawing presenting or scheming. The images that are created on these marking surfaces are erasable, which can be problematic if it is desired that the image be saved for future referencing. Additionally, compositions used to mark on these marking surfaces often leave visible remains and residue after erased, which is commonly termed “ghosting”.
Currently, if an image is to be saved, the most common and practical solution is to somehow attempt to prevent the image from being erased, which is not always feasible or controllable, or simply to try and manually duplicate, re-write or transfer the information onto a portable marking surface like a notepad or other such portable marking surface. Additionally, removal of ghosting is currently attempted with spray cleaners and wipes that often leave smears and residue.
Another option that is considerably less common, is to electronically capture or transfer the image via a high-tech solution like a camera, scanner or other electronic device. For example U.S. Pat. No. 6,337,681 (2002) to Martin, which is assigned to Smart Technologies Inc, as a product branded a “SmartBoard” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,962 (2001) to Davis, which is assigned to Virtual Ink Corp. as a product branded a “Mimio” describe such electronic transfer devices that are relatively well known in the industry. These types of devices are often cost-prohibitive and/or impractical due to their intricacy and sophistication. Furthermore, these devices can also prove to be relatively complicated to port and operate.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,900,094 (1999) to Santini et al. which is assigned to Binney & Smith, Inc. describes a manual image transfer or lifting method that is relatively less sophisticated, however the method includes intricate and possibly volatile steps that include an aqueous, resin and release agent application. This method also requires the use of the specific specialized marker composition that is described, rather than standard markers that are commonly used in the marketplace. When the image is transferred using this method, the image is lifted on paper and would be viewable in its' mirrored orientation, not in the exact orientation as it was originally marked.
While the above described devices and methods fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe image transfer methods and devices that are relatively simple, inexpensive, portable and easy to implement.
Accordingly, there is a need for an inexpensive, low-tech, simple, versatile, portable, easy to use method that can be used to conveniently transfer or lift marked images and effectively remove “ghosting” on whiteboards or the like.